Creasy Cruises to First Win in 2008
Last season Dale Creasy Jr. was a regular visitor to the winner’s circle at IHRA Nitro Jam events. He won six times during the 2007 season in easily cruising to his second consecutive world championship.
This season things have not come quite as easily for the Beecher, Ill., resident. Through three national events heading into the President’s Cup Nationals, Creasy had failed to find his way through the field and into the winner’s circle. That all changed when he knocked off Todd Simpson in the final round to claim the Ironman at Maryland International Raceway.
“Today was a day we have been looking for,” Creasy said. “This morning I was wondering if this was going to be a ‘go fast’ kind of race track or if it was going to be tricky. Either way we thought we had something for everyone else. It worked out well. We have a tune-up we run at Grand Bend for a hot race track that we’ve been working on for two years. All the tracks are good until it gets this hot. You can’t do anything with a 140-degree race track.”
Creasy’s ’08 Impala was the strongest car all weekend. He qualified on top of the qualifying sheet before marching through the rounds of eliminations. He defeated Mike Smith in the first round when Smith rolled through the beams and posted a -.217 red-light. Creasy then knocked off Andy Kelley in the semifinals with a 5.118/293.73 pass to Kelley’s 5.323/280.14. He then marched past Todd Simpson in the final round, posting a 5.080 at 294.95 mph while Simpson shook the tires in the other lane.
“I told my guys before the race that we aren’t doing badly this year, we’re just not doing what we did last year,” Creasy said. “But that was a season where if you would have written it down before-hand no one would have believed it. Everyone is getting tougher in this class and we had to adjust to it. Today we were the best car out there.”
Bobby Lagana Jr. (Scarsdale, N.Y.) also found the winner’s circle for the first time this season, defeating defending World Champion Bruce Litton to take home the Torco Pro Nitro Top Fuel Ironman at MIR. The victory was Lagana’s fourth career national event win.